The Paths We Choose
by folliesofateenageshipper
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi War is over, and Naruto still hasn't replied to Hinata about her confession. When Hinata goes to confront him about it, she sees all is not what it seems. Re-uploaded since it was being weird before.
1. Chapter 1

Hinata was tired. _Really t_ired. She had trained for around two hours straight, and dried blood caked her delicate hands. She lied down on the grass panting hard. It had been around a year since the Fourth Great Shinobi War had ended, but people were still struggling to recover from it. True, for the first time in recorded history all five nations joined hands, and it didn't just end after the war was over. No, the five kages still kept in touch to discuss how they could help each other rebuild. However, the losses were great, greater than any war before. Many shinobi families lost at least one member, and the number of orphans in the hidden villages were at a record high. New programs were attempting to be initiated almost every day, but with the heavy costs of the war, the hidden villages were near bankruptcy. But somehow, people managed to smile. People managed to laugh and joke, and rebuilding didn't seem that bad. Everyone chipped in, from the village elders to the academy students. Konoha was especially in trouble, as the Pain attack that obliterated the village almost exactly preceded the War. They had to work on reconstructing the entire village while also dealing with the losses and lack of funds. But it was getting better. Little by little, the Konoha she remembered was reforming. And in no little part to Naruto.

Hinata let out a soft sigh when she thought of his name. Naruto. After the Pain attack, Naruto was hailed as the village hero. After the Fourth Shinobi War, the closest thing that could describe him was an international celebrity. People wanted to see him, and they couldn't get enough of him. He was their savior, the reason they weren't trapped in an illusion forever. Of course, without Sasuke's help, it wouldn't have been possible, but the general public were a little less willing to accept Sasuke because of his shaky past. And now Naruto was taken in as Tsunade's disciple, an act that basically procured his position as the Hokage. Hinata was happy for him, she honestly, truly was. But she was also frustrated. Since now, Naruto could barely be seen. Between the missions he took, his training, and his time with his fans, Hinata had scarcely glanced him in the past six months. And he still hadn't gotten back to her about her confession.

She let out a soft groan. "_Maybe I shouldn't have told him. Maybe it intimidated him and now he thinks I'm a freaky stalker who doesn't have any life."_ But that couldn't be true. He wouldn't have held her hand or talked to her the way he did on the battlefield. _"I'm just overthinking this. He's just busy is all. Even I'm more busy than usual. Everyone's busy. We're recovering from a war! Get your head in the game, Hinata."_ But regardless of how much she tried to convince herself, she felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach and a hard flutter in her heart. She stood up. _"I'm not going to let this take over my life. I have better things to do."_ And with that thought, she gathered her things and started towards the Konoha cemetery. It had gotten bigger, and was still expanding as new bodies were found in expeditions. She continued down the long lines of flat, gray stones until she reached the one she was looking for. On it read "Neji Hyuga". Just that. Hinata and even her father to some extent had fought to write something on the grave that he would have liked, such as "Finally Free", but the Hyuga elders vehemently disagreed on writing anything, since he was merely a branch member. Plus, writing something so patronizing would give the Hyuga family as a whole a bad name.

She kneeled down next to the grave. "Hi Neji-nii-san. How are you doing? I'm doing great! Today I trained for a whole two hours and it reminded me of the times we used to-"Hinata cut herself off when the tears began to form. She wiped them away and said with a shaky voice "When we used to fight. Remember how hard you trained me? I could never have gotten here without you. I….I miss you a lot."

"I see you're here too."  
Hinata turned around, startled. She instantly calmed down when she found out it was only Ten-Ten. She and Ten-Ten had gotten a lot closer these past couple of months, mostly because of the death of Neji. When the war had ended, and they finally had time for themselves, that's when the full realization hit. Neji was dead. He was never coming back. Ever. This wasn't going to be like the Pain invasion, where everybody who died magically revived. No. He was gone. This was real, it was happening. Once the pain began, Hinata and Ten-Ten met often, just to talk. Talk about Neji, the Hyuga clan, and sometimes just life. Over the year, they had become extremely close without even realizing it. Hinata considered Ten-Ten like a sister now, and Ten-Ten the same.

"Yeah. I was feeling down about something, so I thought talking to Neji- nii- san would help." Hinata said, turning her attention to the grave.

"Is it about Naruto?" Ten-Ten asked, kneeling down with her.

Hinata let out a surprised yelp and widened her eyes "H-how did you know?"

Ten-Ten just laughed. "Girl, everybody knows. Well, everybody who's in our friend circle anyways." She sat down and softened her expression, giving a far-off look at the grave. "You should just tell him." She said softly. "One of my biggest regrets was not telling Neji, and I still think about it at night." Her voice became softer. "Maybe telling him wouldn't have changed what happened. Maybe he still would've died. But… but maybe it would've changed everything. Maybe he would still be here. Maybe we would've been dating. Heck, maybe we would've even gone on double dates with Shikamaru and Temari!" Ten-Ten laughingly said the last line, with her hand on the back of her neck sheepishly. "The point is. Don't ever live life with regrets. What's the worst Naruto can say? No?"

"More like nothing." Hinata said, pulling her legs to her chest and looking steadily down.

"Wait, what? I mean, I know Naruto can be a dufus sometimes, but no guy's a jerk enough to leave a girl hanging like that." Ten-Ten said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Um…Well….The truth is Ten-Ten san, I've already confessed to him." Hinata said, blushing a cherry red.

"Wait, what?! When , how?! Why haven't you told me this before." Ten-Ten basically screamed, the look of surprise clearly splattered over her face.

"I-I-I…. I actually confessed when Pain attacked."

"WAIT WHAT?" Ten-Ten stood up and shouted. Nearby visitors turned their heads to see what the spectacle was about.

"Please be a bit more quiet, Ten-Ten san!"

"NO! I WILL NOT BE QUIET! T**_HAT WAS OVER A YEAR AND A HALF AGO! A YEAR AND A HALF AGO!_ **AND THAT LITTLE SHIT HAS THE NERVE TO NEVER GET BACK TO YOU ON A CONFESSION? I'LL GO TEACH HIM A LESSON." Ten-Ten started walking away, grumbling under her breath.

Hinata stood up and ran after her. "Please don't, Ten-Ten san! I'm sure he's just busy, we're all busy!"

Ten-Ten stopped and gave her a hard look. "He's not busy all the time! Just the other day I saw him at Ichiraku's with Sakura! You know something? I see him all the time lounging around with Sakura! And he has the audacity to stand you up!"

"Um…Well…We're not dating so he can't stand me-"

"Stop It Hinata!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop getting down on yourself! Stop letting others take advantage of you! You poured your heart out into that confession, right?"

"Y-yes."

"You meant every word, didn't you?"

"Of course! But-"

"No buts! Come with me. I don't care if he's doing some super special hokage training or not, we're going to find him, and he's going to answer. Otherwise he might just find a couple of ninja tools lodged into his intestines." Ten-Ten had an evil gleam in her eye when she said that last part.

"P-please don't make me do this Ten-Ten san! I'm sure when he's ready, he'll find me!"

"Like hell he will! Look, let's just go and talk to him, ok? If he says no, well, you're too good for him anyways."

"O-Ok."

Hinata reluctantly followed Ten-Ten out of the cemetery and towards the Hokage's building. Well, the makeshift one until the actual building was reconstructed. As soon as they got to the outside, Hinata stopped. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't. It was too…too…

"Hinata, please." Ten-Ten said, giving her a look of understanding. "You've gotta do this sooner or later. Might as well be now."

Hinata took a deep breath. Her heart was fluttering like it never had before and she felt nauseous. "I can do this. I'm going to do this. I deserve this." And with one more deep breath, she went into the Hokage's building.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks so much for the support! This is my first ever fic, so I really, REALLY appreciate it :) I don't own any of Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto has that pleasure. Otherwise NaruHina would've become canon a 100 chapters ago. This chapter was a bit tricky to write, because it's basically setting up all the future events, so I hope I did it justice. Thanks for reading!_

The makeshift Hokage Building was completely wooden, and the floorboards creaked as they walked down the narrow hallway that would eventually lead to the Hokage's office. There was water dripping down the ceiling, and mold evidently growing in the corners.

"Yeesh. I know that this place isn't permanent, but you'd think they'd at least _try _to make it look nicer." Ten-Ten said, her face scrunched up from disgust.

"I agree." Hinata said distantly, her mind not completely in the real world at the moment. A million different scenarios were spinning through her head, each of them having a bad outcome. _"Naruto saying he doesn't like me. Naruto ignoring me. Naruto liking somebody else. Naruto-"_

"What are you two doing here?"  
Hinata jumped, being startled out of her dream world abruptly. Standing in front of her was Shizune, Tsunade's right hand woman, carrying what seemed to be a million books and scrolls.

"Um, do you need any help Shizune?" Ten-Ten asked.

"Yes! Yes please!" Shizune hurriedly answered, her balance clearly beginning to waver and the books began to start falling.

Hinata and Ten-Ten hurriedly grabbed a couple of off her and started walking towards the office with Shizune.

"Thanks so much! Tsunade sama spent all of last night drinking instead of doing work—again. After the war's ended, her motto's pretty much been 'Party all Night!', leaving me to do all the work. As usual." Shizune sighed. Her wariness and overwork was becoming apparent on her youthful face, with crinkles appearing under her eyes on the sides of her mouth.

"Um, Shizune. Is Naruto around?" Ten-Ten asked, struggling to keep her load of books balanced.

"Naruto?" Shizune looked up thoughtfully, thinking. "I think he is. I mean, he's always around, now that he's basically going to be the next hokage and stuff. I notice that he doesn't slack off on paperwork as much Tsunade sama does, which is surprising."

"That's great!" Ten-Ten exclaimed. "We needed to ask him a couple of things."  
"Oh? About what?" Shizune asked, her eyes shining with curiousity.

"Nothing!" Ten-Ten said quickly. "Just mission stuff. Hinata and I want to take a mission, but with the rest of our teams being busy, we wanted to ask Naruto if he could complete our three man squad!"

"Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up. Lately Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto have been adamantly going on missions together."

Ten-Ten glanced over at Hinata, wondering how she was taking where this conversation was headed. She wasn't surprised to see that Hinata was staring straight ahead, her eyebrows knit in concentration.

_"Probably thinking about Naruto and hasn't been listening to anything."_ Ten-Ten thought with a little laugh.

They finally reached the door they were going for, and Shizune knocked it before a muffled female voice said "Come in!" Opening the door, Ten-Ten and Hinata followed Shizune into the Hokage's office. Or tried to. The room was _tiny._ Barely fit a desk and two chairs. Hinata managed to squeeze in, but Ten-Ten just stood by the door.

"If it isn't Hinata and Ten-Ten! What're you guys doing here?" Tsunade said, sitting behind the desk and—surprisingly—working. She was staring intently at her paperwork, and barely gave forlorn glance at the two kunoichi.

"Tsunade-sama…." Hinata began before faltering off. Ten-Ten gave Hinata a reassuring nod and Hinata continued. "Tsunade-sama. I was wondering if you knew where Naruto was? I thought he was here, but apparently not so…"

"Naruto, huh? You just missed him! I think he left for Ichiraku's with Sakura!" Tsunade said, still focused on her work.

"Ok! Thank you very much, Tsunade-sama!" Ten-Ten hurriedly said, grabbing Hinata by the arm and dragging her out.

"Ten-Ten san! What are you doi-"  
"Come on Hinata. We're going to Ichiraku's."

Hinata could only sigh because she knew arguing with her was pointless.

"Alright." She said, defeated, and followed Ten-Ten out of the building. They walked down the long, gravelly pathways of the village, set out by construction workers to make sure civilians didn't get in the way of the rebuilding.

Hinata was always pleasantly surprised whenever she had a good look at her village. The reconstruction was happening much faster than anybody had expected. The skyline was visible again, as the tall buildings that once were the pride of Konoha were being rebuilt. The market had recently reopened—and has been bustling ever since. People were starting to recreate a daily routine, just as they used to have once upon a time. They passed by the Ninja school, also almost fully rebuilt. It was given priority as new ninjas needed to be trained as soon as possible, with the great losses of the war. A Hidden Village with no ninjas was not a Hidden Village at all. There were children screaming and laughing, climbing on the tall, winding trees and attempting to throw shuriken at the bulls-eye. Hinata just stood there for a while, taking everything in with a smile on her face.

"Is everything alright, Hinata?" Ten-Ten asked with a curious face. Then she turned around to see what Hinata was looking and her expression immediately softened. "It's been a long time, huh?"

"Yeah." Hinata said warmly. This was the place where everything began. Where Hinata's life truly began. Where she became a ninja, where she learned from watching Naruto. Where she learned she was more than just trash, as her father affectionately called her. In the corner of her eye, she noticed something she hadn't noticed before. _"The swing…it's still there!"_ The old swing, with wearing rope and a rotting piece of wood, was still there. The one that Naruto used to always be on. The school got decimated by the attack, but that swing managed to stay completely intact.

"Wait one second Ten-Ten san!" Hinata said, running towards the swing.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ten-Ten asked, obviously surprised by Hinata's outburst.

"Come push me!" Hinata said, sitting down on the swing.

"If this is your way of stalling, it's not going to work!" Ten-Ten said, her hands on her hips.

"Please?" Hinata said, pouting.

"…Fine. Just a little!" Ten-Ten said, giving in. She went behind Hinata and started pushing, and for a moment, Hinata forgot about everything. She forgot about Neji's death, about her family problems, about the war. Hell, she even forgot about Naruto. She just felt like a little kid again, with no cares in the world. That feeling was cut off abruptly by Ten-Ten pulling on one of the ropes of the swing to stop it.

"We've got to get going! Or else we'll miss him. _Again._" Ten-Ten said, impatience lacing her voice.

Hinata sighed and stood up. "Ok…But afterwards we have to come straight back here and do this again!"

"Aren't you sure you'd rather come back here with Naruto?" Ten-Ten asked mischievously. Hinata blushed at the statement, but said nothing. "Now come on! We've got to hurry!"

Ten-Ten was running towards the ramen stand, and Hinata followed close behind. She was feeling a lot calmer after playing on that swing. She didn't even understand why. _"I've got to keep that in mind when I get stressed again."_ As they approached the ramen stand, they slowed down, panting. Ten-Ten squinted her eyes and pointed.

"See! I can see him!"

Hinata looked and saw that Ten-Ten was right. There was Naruto, wearing his signature orange pants and a casual blue-green shirt. He was sitting next to Sakura, laughing about something.

_"His smile is so beautiful."_ Hinata thought to herself, looking from afar.

"Come on! Let's get closer and talk to him!" Ten-Ten said, urging her to move forward.

As Hinata walked closer, she noticed something…weird. Sakura and Naruto were…holding hands. And it looked from where they were standing as if Naruto was moving closer to Sakura, as if… as if he were going to embrace her. Ten-Ten noticed too and stopped in her tracks. The two of them just stood there, gaping at the scene that unfolding before them. Naruto was closing the gap between him and Sakura. There was…. Intimacy in his eyes. He first pulled Sakura into a hug. Not a hug of the friendship kind. A hug most definitely not of the friendship kind. And then he pulled her back, his hands still on her shoulders and brought her closer and closer until… until their lips touched. Until the space between them melted away. Hinata's breath stopped. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes. She had to get away from there. Right. Now.

"Hinata. I-I'm so sorry… I…I didn't think….I didn't know…." Ten-Ten stammered.

Hinata just gripped her fists tightly and started to run. She had no idea where she was going. She just knew she had to leave.

***  
Hinata stopped when she reached a nearby stream that she was used to training by. She was relieved to see Ten-Ten hadn't followed her. She just needed this time to be alone. She felt…she felt frustrated. Angry. Betrayed. Surprised. But, to her surprise, didn't feel the one emotion above all she was expecting: sad. She wanted answers. She _did not_ deserve this. What has she ever done to Naruto to make him betray her in the worst possible way? First, he never responded to her, and now he was making out with Sakura. She wished he could've just told her "Sorry Hinata. I don't like you that way. We can still be friends." But no. This…This was putting salt on a wound that was very, _very _deep. She balled her hands, looking at her reflection in the water, a determined look on her face. She was going to get answers. By herself, with no help from anybody. She was going to find Naruto, and she was going to have a nice, long chat with him. Ten-Ten was right. She need to stop let people taking advantage of her. Her kindness was not only her greatest strength—it was her greatest weakness as well. She took one last look at her reflection before she started walking away, towards Ichiraku's.


End file.
